A total of 72 members joined or renewed for the 2019 season, an increase of 14 over 2018. This is the largest membership figure since 2015 (73).

The 72 members included 3 who took advantage of our special deal and joined during September – December 2018. (Five new [2] and re-joining [3] members have joined so far for the 2020 season since September 2019). Reconciliation between the number of application forms filled in or updated and the number of membership cards issued showed no discrepancies – 80 were printed, and 8 remained at the end of the season.

Once again can I emphasise that shop volunteers need to remain vigilant in ensuring that customers hold a current membership card before finalising sales if we are to improve further on our current membership levels.

As last year, a new code for the Suttons discount for 2020 will be used, and the toilet code will be changed during the week before our first 2020 opening, which is the 12th of January. Both of these codes will be divulged on joining or renewal. I will send out a global email to existing members informing them of this in early January.

We had a successful year’s trading, with a turnover of £2125.

The top sellers were:

• Mushroom Compost                      200              Sold Out
• Jack’s Magic Compost                    79              Sold Out
• Canes 8ft & 4ft                           510
• Ground Cover 1 & 2m                   240

The first item requires bulk purchase to provide a reasonable selling price. The second is purchased on special offer which occurs once or sometimes twice a year.  The other items are purchased from our regular supplier, Fargro. Until recently Fargro included delivery in the purchase price of each item, making it easy to top-up items that were running low. Now there is a minimum order value of £180 inc VAT to obtain free delivery, which means we may need to delay replacement of out of stock items until we have built up a minimum order.

These factors highlight that we have limited storage space and logistical problems around delivery, for example 200 bags of mushroom compost weigh 5 tonnes and are delivered on an 18 tonner.

A plan was drawn up, together with the groundsman, to address these issues by improving access for these lorries. The scheme includes moving the gate and tapering the fence on both sides at the Riley Lane entrance and laying a concrete raft in front of the bulk storage hut to facilitate off-loading of these items by the pallet-load. This would reduce the multiple handling of individual bags and increase storage capacity – a single pallet-load of stock held together by clingfilm typically requires six pallets when the bags are stacked individually. The Parish Council agreed to carry out this work in-house with a contribution from OBAGS of £500. At the committee meeting of 11 April, 2019 it was agreed to proceed. The work should be completed early in the New Year. Thanks are due to Stephen, the groundsman, for his valuable input.

The Riley Lane entrance is not the ideal choice for accessing the OBAGS huts with a large lorry because the lane is narrow and the far side is laid to grass, but it has the advantage that the route is reinforced with 6” or more of scalpings  and the concrete extension can be accessed with no further turns. If it were not for this, the car park entrance would be a better bet, but the route is simply grass on soil and the lorry tailgate could not be lined up with the hut entrance.

However, it has come to our notice that the car park is to be upgraded to provide more parking spaces and this may occur as early as next year. I would like to propose that we keep an eye on developments with a view to include upgrading the grass strip from the car park gate to accommodate an 18t lorry and extending the concrete slab to meet the rear of the truck without it having to turn, as part of this project.

This proposal was approved. Post-note: The Council’s car park plan has been put on hold.

Thanks to Les Orvis for his help with the stocktake, and to those members who helped with the Shed Tidy. Also, a thank you to all those who made such a great success of the Plant Sale by contributing to its organisation and publicity, by donating plants and prizes and by helping out on the day.

The investigation carried out by the officers of the committee into the loss of £100 of income and their decision to write off that sum were approved by the committee. Steps had already been taken to minimise the likelihood of a recurrence.

5. Treasurer’s Report

6. Secretary’s Report

7. Membership Secretary’s Report

8. Trading Secretary’s Report

10. 2020 Plans

9. Website Report

11. Appointments of Officers

All members agreed to continue to serve except Maurice Bates who announced his retirement from the committee.

Chris Hall thanked Maurice for his many years service on the committee, both as member and chairman, and for arranging to make the Bowling Club clubhouse available for our AGMs.

12. Any Other Business